Oh Bella
by ibelieveinguardianangels
Summary: ""Talk to me, Bella." He spoke after some time. After the poor girl had slowly begun to calm. "And let me help you."" When Bella is upset, Carlisle is there to calm her worries. One-Shot. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

 **I've been experimenting with Bella and with my writing style. The thing about Twilight that always bothered me was the fact that Bella never really seemed to be all that affected by Edward's controlling behaviour so whilst I was playing around with her, this is what I came up with. Bella may seem a little out of character.**

 **Sorry for any mistakes.**

 **Oh Bella**

It was with Herculean effort that Bella refrained from wiping away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. One, and then another, and then another, and then another until they gathered at her chin like warm fingertips and dripped, one by one, onto her t-shirt, leaving dark smudges where they fell and soaked into the material. She wanted to wipe the tears away - of course she did. But she couldn't. Because wiping away her tears would only serve as proof that she was actually crying. And she didn't want to admit that.

And so she sat, salty tears pouring down her cheeks, soaking her shirt, sticky-ing her face with their residue. Her nose running, snot gathering at her upper lip. There was a tissue gripped in hand, waiting for use. But she didn't use it. And she knew how much of a mess she must look, but she couldn't care less. Because how could she care when he didn't care? When he didn't care about how he was making her feel. When he didn't care about how his behaviour affected her and her decisions.

When he didn't care that Jake was right.

It had been an offhand comment. 'Domestic abuse'. But she was beginning to believe that what he said was true.

Controlling her movements, who she saw, where she went. Even to the stage of refusing to leave her alone and having his siblings and family members kidnap her at any given interval.

And she couldn't help but wonder when her angel had become such a…well, she wouldn't think that word. Not because of Edward, no, but because of Carlisle and how that poor, gentle, compassionate man viewed himself because she would not allow herself to put them both into the same category.

She heard the door to the house open from below and let out a sigh. No matter how much she didn't want to admit her weakness, she could not allow herself to be found in such a state.

"Bella?" She heard. Carlisle. She didn't answer. There was no point, he'd find her once he came up the stairs anyway. "Bella?" She heard again, softer this time. A hint of something else in his voice. Concern, worry – why? She realised, with a soft sigh of defeat, that her wiped away tears had quickly replaced themselves, falling again over her reddened cheeks in perfect view of the patriarch.

In the time it took Bella to blink, Carlisle had crossed from the doorway and come to crouch down in front of her. He rested his forearms against her knees, almost as though to hold himself up despite the fact that she knew that he didn't require the support. He looked up at her from his position between her legs and she could see the change in his eyes. His typically topaz irises were a mixture of gold and black, a colour she had never seen before. A colour that she didn't know what it meant.

"Bella, what is it?" He was frantic as he spoke. She'd never heard him so panicked. She could hear it; hear him trying to keep himself calm as he regarded her. Bella was usually the strong one. He'd never seen her cry before. No matter how much she might have wanted to.

"Carlisle." Bella whimpered childishly. And even more childishly she held out her arms for him.

He understood, however, and rose from his crouched position, taking a seat beside her and, in a swift movement, settling her onto his lap. She rested her head against him, hiding her face between his neck and his collar bone as the tears continued to fall, soaking his ice-cold skin and most likely staining his work shirt.

Her hands were balled into fists, the material of Carlisle's shirt trapped within them.

Carlisle rocked slowly, gently, trying to pacify her. He had one hand wrapped tightly around her frame as she cried and the other was combing through her hair. He hummed a tune along with his rocking.

"Talk to me, Bella." He spoke after some time. After the poor girl had slowly begun to calm. "And let me help you."

Typical Carlisle. Always wanting to help. She glanced up at him and still there was that strange colouring to his eyes. She sighed softly, reaching up for a moment, her warm palm resting against the cold skin of his cheek. He kept his mouth closed, allowing her to do so.

"So kind." She whispered and she could see the flicker in his eyes, no doubt wondering whether or not she was delusional. Or high. Or both. "So unlike Edward." She added under her breath.

The habitual rise and fall of Carlisle's chest paused and she froze too, panic setting in and she suddenly remembered the extremely sensitive hearing of vampires.

"Edward did this?" Carlisle asked, his tone disbelieving. Bella didn't blame him. She wouldn't believe her either – not if she knew Edward the way he did. "What did he do Bella?" He asked. And so Bella told him, sobbing her way through the tale. She told him about Edward's behaviour, his attitude and the way he was with her. She told him about his controlling behaviour. And, finally, she told him about what Jake had said.

By the time she had finished, she was clutching onto his shirt again, her chest rising and falling irregularly as she panted through her tears.

"Bella," Carlisle spoke after a moment of evaluating the reason for her tears. "I'm certain that Edward feels as though he is doing the right thing. He is trying to protect you." Bella scoffed at his words but Carlisle continued, undeterred. "He knows how dangerous our lives can be for you and he wants to keep you as well protected as he can. He's just going the wrong way around it. Bella, you have to believe me when I tell you that, despite how it may seem, Edward's behaviour is only so because of how much he loves you. It may not seem so to you, but Edward means no harm. In fact, he means that exact opposite."

"Then why doesn't he care?" Bella demanded suddenly, pulling away from Carlisle, one hand resting against his chest to hold her up as she looked into his eyes. "Why doesn't he care about how much it hurts me? Why doesn't he listen to what I have to say? To what I want?"

"He believes, with his many years, that he knows what is best for you. And sometimes one person's best is another's worst. But I can guarantee, Bella, he doesn't mean to make you feel this way. And I promise that I will talk to him about his behaviour and the way he is acting." She could almost hear the unspoken 'before he drives you away'.

She let herself fall back against his chest, her head laying against his sternum this time, feeling his arms come to rest around her. One hand danced up and down her back from her shoulder to her waist in a bid to comfort her. The other rested on the small of her back.

"I promise you, Bella," Carlisle spoke again, softly, "I promise we'll fix this."

She felt his lips press against the top of her head as he slightly tightened the hug.

"I promise."

 **Author's Note:**

 **As I've been experimenting with my writing style, it would mean a lot if you could take a couple of minutes to let me know what you think of this story.**

 **Whilst I'm here, I'd love for any prompts that people may have. I'm very big on hurt/comfort, but I don't really have that many ideas at the minute.**

 **Thank you for reading.**

 **ibelieveinguardianangels**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

 **It was suggested that I write the conversation between Carlisle and Edward. Here's what I came up with – to the reviewer who suggested it, I hope this is close to what you were hoping for.**

 **Sorry for any mistakes.**

Carlisle knew that if his family had chosen that moment to enter the house, they would be immediately concerned by the sight that would greet them. He was perched on the edge of the couch in the sitting room, sat exactly where he had been earlier that day with Bella, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands alternating between being buried in his blond hair and covering his face.

He took a number of calming, albeit unnecessary, breaths to try and dispel the anger that he was currently feeling towards his 'first-born' son and his oldest companion. He simply could not find it in him to believe that poor Bella had been reduced to a sobbing, quivering wreck because of the way in which the man who was supposed to love her and cherish her was acting.

And he certainly couldn't believe that the man in question happened to be _Edward_. Carlisle thought that he had known him much better than that. Not only had Carlisle spent year after year ensuring that Edward did not lose who he was after his life was stolen from him and replaced by an existence that he despised, but he also believed that the raising he had received from his parents before the Spanish Influenza epidemic had hit would have been enough to show him that the way he was treating Bella was unacceptable.

The girl loved him. In fact, she was absolutely besotted with him and he felt that it was acceptable to make her feel as though her opinion and her thoughts and her feelings were unimportant. Edward needed to be reminded who he was. And who he was certainly wasn't a controlling and abusive partner. Bella deserved much better. And it would kill Carlisle to have to point that out to him.

He could only hope that it would help him to become the person that Carlisle knew that he was capable of being and not push him further in the opposite direction.

So now Carlisle was sat on the couch, his head resting in his hands, running through ways in which he could broach the subject with Edward.

He knew for a fact that he needed to do so before things got any worse and Bella got to a stage where she felt that she could no longer be with him. Not only would that hurt Edward, but it would break the no-longer-beating hearts of all of his family members. Even Rosalie.

He didn't know how long he had been sat there for. In all honesty, he didn't really care too much. But it wasn't long before his family grew closer to the house and he knew that he had to collar Edward now before he had a chance to go upstairs. Once he was with Bella, it would be difficult to get him to leave her side again.

When he heard the door down the stairs open, he moved from his position on the couch and stood at the top of the stairs to greet them.

He attempted to school his features into those of interest as he barely listened to their tales of how Jasper and Emmett had taken down a grizzly bear that had, somehow, managed to back Esme into a corner. Usually he would have been worried for his wife, checking her over and over despite her protestations that she was absolutely that fine.

But he didn't. Not this time.

And of course his children and his wife noticed. They were too observant not to.

Esme stood beside him, leaning up against his side with one hand resting on his chest and the other against his right shoulder.

"Carlisle?" She inquired softly, reaching a hand out to place it on his cheek and turn his head so that he was facing her instead of staring over the tops of his children's heads. "Is everything okay?"

Carlisle nodded in response to her question, the action short and sharp. His body was tense and he was aware that his wife could feel it, but there was nothing that he could do. There was absolutely no way that he would be able to relax until he had…

He paused as he remembered that Edward would have likely been listening to what he was thinking to try and find out what it was that was bothering him. And so he changed his thought process quickly, revising a modern medical textbook in his mind despite having no need to relearn any of the information.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Edward frown. He knew that he was probably worried.

He turned his head to Alice who had appeared at his other side, looking up at him with concern on her face. He had purposely refrained from making any decisions so that she would not have had the opportunity to warn Edward. He gently placed a hand atop of her head, a soft smile grazing his lips as she frowned up at him in annoyance.

"It's nice to hear that you have enjoyed your hunt." He spoke, referring to them all, and then he turned to look at Jasper and Emmett and added, "Thank you for saving Esme."

There was no hiding the tension as he spoke and so he carefully removed himself from Esme's embrace. He took a few steps backwards and folded his arms across his chest, his work shirt tightening around his muscles.

"Edward," He met the eyes of the vampire at the back, "my office. Now."

He turned to head up the stairs. He didn't need to check that Edward was following him, he could hear his footsteps behind him.

He hated doing this. Leaving Edward wondering. But if he knew what it was that he was going to talk to him about then he would come up with his excuses and not allow Carlisle room to speak.

He had seen the look in everyone's eyes before he had turned; they were all wondering what on earth Edward could have done to upset Carlisle. Especially with him having been out with them all day.

It was silent as they made their way up the stairs and towards Carlisle's study. He nodded to the couch, closing the door and watching as Edward sat down. Once he was certain that Edward wasn't going to try and leave he left the door and pulled up his swivel chair to sit opposite him, so close that their knees were almost touching.

Carlisle hated seeing the confusion in Edward's eyes as he did so.

"Answer me this, Edward," Carlisle began, watching as he watched him intently, "just how much do you love Isabella?"

He watched as Edward's eyebrows knitted together as his confusion deepened. It wasn't necessary for him to answer the question – Carlisle knew his answer already. But he did so anyway and Carlisle nodded as he spoke.

"And just what extent would you go to in order to help her?"

Again he knew the answer. Edward would go to the ends of the earth and back for Bella. He would give up his immortality for Bella. He would change water to wine for Bella if it were possible.

"Then why is it that you believe it's acceptable to drive her away? Acceptable to make her feel unimportant and unappreciated? To make her believe that her opinion and her thoughts and her feelings do not matter?"

Edward looked offended, his mouth was open, floundering as he watched Carlisle.

"And why do you believe that it's acceptable to treat her like a small child? To have people monitor her? Babysit her? _Kidnap_ her?"

Again, Carlisle didn't give Edward the chance to speak before he continued.

"Bella would give everything for you, Edward." He stated, knowing that he didn't need to tell Edward that. He already knew, but he felt that it was a point that he needed to drive home. "And in return you treat her like a prisoner. She cannot go out, see friends -,"

"Werewolves." Edward scoffed and Carlisle sent him a warning look that would have had anybody else running in the opposite direction.

"She cannot even stay at her home on her own. You are supposed to love her, Edward. You are supposed to care for her. And that includes taking her wants and her needs into consideration. You _cannot_ take away her freedom and her independence." He held up a hand as Edward made to speak again. "I know you mean well," he assured him, "but you must remember that Bella is a human being with feelings and thoughts. You can't treat her this way. You're going to drive her away. Is that what you want?"

"Bella will stay." Edward stated. The sentence alone didn't really mean much. He could have been reassuring himself that Bella would have remained with him because of their love and their unbreakable bond. But in light of what Carlisle had been saying, the sentence took on a different tone. A tone that told Carlisle that Bella would not _be able_ to leave.

"Isabella Swan is an individual, Edward. She must be allowed to make her own decisions, to spend time with the people that she wishes to see including her friends and family no matter their species." The end was added when Edward made to argue.

"Carlisle -,"

"I don't like the idea of Bella playing around with werewolves any more than you do, Edward. Wolves are…unpredictable. But she must be allowed to make her own decisions and her own mistakes safe in the knowledge that you will be there for her _if_ things go wrong. You cannot hide her away from the world because you're frightened of her getting hurt."

"She doesn't know what she's doing, Carlisle," Edward growled, "She doesn't understand the danger."

"I'm fairly certain that she has a good idea of the danger that wolves can present. Just as much as she knows how dangerous we can be." Carlisle reasoned. "And even if she doesn't, you must allow her to make her mistakes. We will be there to help her pick up the pieces if anything bad were to happen."

Edward snarled, jumping up from his seat at Carlisle's words, the sudden movement almost pushing Carlisle's wheeled chair backwards.

"Sit down, Edward." Carlisle ordered, raising his voice slightly and pointing to the seat. "You know exactly what it was that I was trying to say." He waited for Edward to sit. He watched him closely for a moment, noting the tenseness in his body. "I found Bella in the sitting room when I came home from work. She was very, very, _very_ upset, Edward."

At this another frown crossed Edward's face.

"And the reason for her distress is the blatant disregard you have for her and her thoughts and feelings. She told me of a comment that Jacob had made." Another snarl interrupted Carlisle at the mention of the wolf's name. "Edward, enough!" Carlisle snapped, hating having to do so. "Edward, Bella feels as though you are acting abusively towards her. She's made that connection between Jacob's words and your actions herself and if you do not correct your attitude and your behaviour towards her then it will only be a matter of time before you lose her."

His words seemed to ring loud with Edward and any argument that he may have been about to make had fallen down his throat. Carlisle observed him, his head tilted slightly as Edward's chest shuddered, his hands coming to rest in his hair as his elbows came to rest on his knees, his position very similar to the one Carlisle had adopted before they had arrived home.

Carlisle hadn't wanted to hurt Edward, but it was important that he was aware of the consequences of how he was acting towards her and how he was treating her.

"Edward," He spoke softly as he watched Edward's face contort, his breathing speeding up. Carlisle felt a dull ache in the area that once homed his beating heart. "Edward." He knew that, if it were possible, there would be tears making their way down Edward's cheeks, just like poor Bella.

Carlisle let out a soft sigh, leaning forwards in his seat and resting his right hand on his son's shoulder.

"I never intended to upset you," Carlisle spoke truthfully, his voice gentle now, "but you needed to know that your behaviour and your attitude toward Bella was unacceptable."

Edward didn't respond. Carlisle stood from his swivel chair and took a seat on the couch beside him. He wrapped one arm around Edward's shoulder, rested the other on his chest and pulled him a little closer. He certainly hadn't meant to upset Edward. But at least now the boy realised that there were definitely consequences to what he was doing and he would, hopefully, make the necessary changes.

Edward unconsciously rested his head against Carlisle's chest.

It was the second time today he'd had to comfort one of his children.

"I think," Carlisle spoke softly when Edward had finally calmed, "that you need to take yourself upstairs. Bella's asleep, but she's going to want you there when she wakes." Carlisle spoke. "You have a lot of talking to do."

Edward nodded, leaving the room, his body held differently than usual. Carlisle knew that he was upset and ashamed of himself. He only hoped that it would teach him a lesson that he so desperately needed to learn.

The door behind Edward had just closed when there was a light tap on the wood. Carlisle had moved over onto his swivel chair and combed his fingers through his blond hair.

"Come in, Esme."

She entered, crossing the room and settling herself onto his lap. He easily wrapped his arms around her. It was nice to hold somebody who wasn't upset.

"They'll be okay, Carlisle." Esme assured him, her head resting on his collar bone. "They're too strong not to be."

Carlisle nodded, leaning down to press a kiss to his wife's lips.

"I know."

He only hoped that they were both right.

 **Thank you for reading.**

 **Please let me know what you think. I love reading reviews.**

 **ibelieveinguardianangels**


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